Colt's · Carbine

Colt Lightning Small Frame Gallery Carbine

Name: Colt Lightning Small Frame Gallery Carbine
Brand: Colt's

Pump action · .22 Short · introduced 1887

Also known as Colt Lightning Small Frame, Colt Small Frame Lightning, Colt Lightning .22 Gallery Gun

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About the Colt Lightning Small Frame Gallery Carbine

The Colt Lightning Small Frame Gallery Carbine is a small-frame pump-action carbine chambered for the .22 rimfire cartridge. The smallest and most popular of Colt's slide-action Lightning family, it fed .22 Short and .22 Long rounds from an under-barrel tubular magazine and became a fixture of shooting galleries, carnivals and backyard plinking in the late 19th century. Its slide action allowed rapid repeat fire, and roughly 89,912 small-frame examples were built between 1887 and 1904.

Colt's slide-action Lightning rifles were the company's attempt to compete with Winchester's lever guns during the 1880s. The small-frame .22 became beloved as a gallery and carnival gun, popping targets in shooting arcades across America.

Colt Lightning Small Frame Gallery Carbine specifications

General

Type: Carbine
Action: Pump action
Firing mechanism: Hammer-fired
Trigger: Single action
Calibres: .22 Short
Magazine capacity: 15 rounds
Magazine: Tubular

Dimensions

Barrel length: 610 mm (24.0 in)
Overall length: 1054 mm (41.5 in)
Weight (empty): 2.95 kg (6.50 lb)

Barrel

Rifling: Right hand

Materials

Barrel: Steel
Receiver / frame: Steel
Stock: Walnut
Finish: blued

Performance

Muzzle velocity (typical): 329 m/s (1079 fps)
Muzzle energy (typical): 102 J (75 ft·lb)
Effective range: 50 m

History

Introduced: 1887
Discontinued: 1904
Production status: Discontinued
Country of origin: US
Designer: William H. Elliott

Features

Under-barrel tubular magazine
Exposed hammer
Case-hardened hammer
Slide (pump) action for rapid repeat fire

The small-frame Lightning was Colt's answer to inexpensive gallery and plinking rifles. Shorter carbine-length configurations were popular for arcade and traveling-show use.